On remote Azore island, Rahall did it all

Tuesday

Mar 25, 2014 at 12:01 AMMar 25, 2014 at 12:15 AM

By Louise CarrollFor The Ledger

ELLWOOD CITY — Dr. Lawrence F. “Larry” Rahall said the most interesting part of his 10 years in the Air Force was the time he spent in the Azores, on the island of Terceira. Rahall recalls that it was like turning back the clock, with cows on the streets, donkeys carrying milk jugs, and inconsistent water and electricity in town.

It was a small island, with a post office and a small television station. Rahall served in the Azores from January 1987 to January 1991, when the base was a refueling station, part of the Military Airlift Command.

“My mission was to take care of the medical needs. It was the complete medical practice, not like here and now with specialists. I did it all from the womb to the tomb. I delivered babies and took care of the elderly and everyone in between for whatever their problem. I did whatever procedure or treatment that was needed,” Rahall said.

As the medical officer treating every problem, there were times when a higher level of care was needed. Rahall would call Walter Reed Army Medical Center and speak with a doctor there and work out the details of getting the patient to the United States. They were flown to the United States on a C-141 cargo plane, a regular flight, with a special place for the patient.

Rahall’s patients were not just the military and their dependents and visiting families, but tourists from other nations who needed medical attention.

“The Portuguese were also treated at the hospital but not flown to the United States. I remember one patient, who had a subdural hemotoma and the surgeon took a Black & Decker drill and drilled into the skull. It all ended well,” Rahall said.

A subdural hematoma, often caused by a traumatic brain injury, results in bleeding that puts pressure on the brain. It can be life-threatening.

One tragic event, a young serviceman who fell over a cliff, stands out in Rahall’s memory.

“Every serviceman received an orientation about the island. They were warned to not go near the edge of the cliffs because the island had been a volcano and the soil was not always firm,” Rahall said. “The young man did not obey the warnings and fell 600 feet to his death.”

The body was found by Portuguese fishermen, Rahall said.

Rahall’s work was mostly 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., five days a week. Every other week, he was medical officer of the day, which meant he stayed at the hospital for 24 hours to take care of any emergency

“I had more time for my family then than I do now,” Rahall said.

Rahall married Lucy Yeykal of Ellwood City in January 1987 and left for the Azores in April that year. She accompanied him to his post.

Twelve years ago, the Rahalls returned to the Azores for a visit and found that it is now a place with modern roads and cell phones.

Rahall, 58, is not sure why he chose medicine as a career except that it had all the elements he was interested in — science and humanity. In 1973, he was a member of the ROTC at Allegheny College and then went to the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on a military scholarship and graduated in 1981. After a year’s internship in a Cleveland hospital, he was a general medical hospital officer with the rank of captain.

“We had a military/medical indoctrination, not really a basic training or boot camp, but we took part in a two-day war-games-type training,” Rahall said.

His first post was Loring Air Force base in Maine, two miles from the Canadian border.

“It was very cold there, and we needed block heaters so the car would start,” Rahall said. “And once my car was hit by a moose.”

He also served at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill., and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina.

“When I was in the service, I didn’t think it was so nice, but when I look back, it was a good experience. It was good seeing different places and meeting people,” Rahall said.

When Rahall was discharged and looking for a place to practice medicine, he interviewed at a number of places but came to Ellwood City because he liked both the practice and the hospital.

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